Breaking Bad: Retiring Old Habits for renewed Leadership Impact
Maybe she’s just born with it?
Ha! We’re not born leaders, we become leaders. Leadership in its simplest terms is about choice, and the ownership of that choice. How do we make choices that consistently create something of value for ourselves and our team? We practice.
So when a leader says to me something like, “I’m going to ‘work on’ being more patient, or developing stronger storytelling skills, or strategic thinking, or ….” I hear choice and ownership. Then the question, how?
How will you practice (own) this choice in your leadership?
This came up in a recent session with a client. She’d had the realization that her habit of interrupting colleagues—blurting out ideas/input/opinions unsolicited—was getting in the way of creating and promoting quality thinking within her team.
“How do I stop interrupting all the time? How do I get better at this bad habit?”
Here was my coaching to her:
Choice: she has to decide that she wants to transform her leadership, to decrease incidents of interrupting and increase incidents of her “listening” (her words).
Ownership: she then had to decide to create a practice that would have her “practice-ing” the above.
HOW exactly? Welcome to …
THE Leadership Lab:
The Four A’s OF leadership impact
Every newsletter will include a specific, practical leadership practice to support you in learning, growing and ultimately transforming your leadership. Welcome to your practice!
Action: There’s no change with no action. In the case above, my client set a clear intention to slow down and take one deep breathe before making any comment or contribution. She wanted to dial down her reactivity, and dial up her listening.
YOUR ACTION? Think of something you want to strengthen. Now choose one simple, straight-forward action that would support you. Hint: if you can’t think of anything, try the one above. Slowing down is leadership GOLD.
Awareness: Awareness is HIGHLY CURATIVE. My client decided to reflect on a daily basis between our sessions (we suggest no less than 14 days) to see if any new insight or result began to take place. Then tracked when she practiced and how many times.
YOUR AWARENESS? Consider getting curious with your practice (refraining from judgment) and ask yourself: “Today I practiced _____ (#) times. AND through this practice, I am becoming aware of ______________. I’m also becoming aware of ______________.”
Acknowledgment: Habits need care and watering to take hold. There’s nothing more detrimental to forming a new habit than giving ourselves a hard time. My client included an acknowledgement practice to her daily reflection.
YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT? Be nice to the most important person in your leadership, YOU: “I acknowledge and appreciate myself for ______________ (focus on effort, grit, perseverance, as well as accomplishment). I also appreciate and acknowledge myself for ______________ (again, focus on your effort, and willingness to persevere).” It’s a practice after all, keep going.
Accountability: This isn’t only about “did you do it?”. Rather, think of having accountability in place as a way to add “teeth” to your practice. It ensures practice stickiness. Do you have a coach? Do you have a great boss who wants to see you grow? Do you have a supportive colleague who is cheering you on and can be honest with you? As an accountability step, my client added her practice to our coaching agenda. We review the above at the start of every session, and test the practice—what’s working, what’s not working, what (if anything) needs to be iterated on?
YOUR ACCOUNTABILITY? Choose someone who is a champion of your growth and success. And commit yourself to this action: “I am sharing my insights with ______________ (a trusted confidant, boss, coach). And I am exploring further action with my trusted confidant, to keep steps 1–3 alive as a practice.”
Helpful? Share with us.
AND stay tuned for more “Breaking Bad: Retiring Old Habits for Renewed Leadership Impact”—COMING TO YOUR INBOX SOON!
